Winky Is Missing A Friend
by Hadespuff
Summary: Because Winky and Dobby were great friends, but nobody thought to tell her what happened to him.
The kitchens at Hogwarts was very busy. House-elves were scurrying around the room, putting finishing touches on the beginning of the school year feast. After the Battle of Hogwarts, as many were calling it, the house-elves were trying to make it so that everyone would have an enjoyable year.

The train would be arriving in the Hogsmeade station shortly, and the Hogwarts staff wanted them to have a warm previous night, most of the house-elves spent the day cleaning the castle. They dusted every corner, polished every surface, and made every bed. All in all, the house elves were having a wonderful time. That is, to say, except one.

Winky liked working, she loved it, but she could not help but feel as if the year was not going to be good for her. She had gotten used to her job at Hogwarts, started to enjoy it even, but there was one elf that she was missing, that she had not seen in almost a year.

To say Winky was worried about Dobby would be an understatement. At first she thought Dobby had gotten a new job, but she had her doubts. Dobby always told Winky how fun working at Hogwarts was when he was trying to get her to stop wasting away. He said, Winky remembered with horror, that Dumbledore was paying him and giving him vacation days.

It was hard to believe that Dobby would have gotten a different job, but Winky didn't see any other plausible ideas as to why Dobby was gone. Winky had asked the other elves, but they didn't know anything either, and didn't really like to talk to Winky. They were stilled worried that she would stop working and cry over being given clothes by her other master, even though that had happened a couple of years earlier.

Winky didn't know what to do, because she thought of Dobby as a friend, and she didn't want to never see him again. Maybe Headmistress McGonagall would let her visit Dobby at his new job, if he really did get one. Winky knew it was bad of her to ask for something, but she really wanted to see Dobby, and make sure he was okay. But first, Winky would need to find out where Dobby went.

She did not want to bug the professors when they were already worried about the new year. She did not want to sneak around, looking for answers. The only thing she could do was ask one of the students when they got to school. Winky knew that Dobby and Harry Potter were close, so she thought that she would ask him.

Later that night, once the feast was over and the students had gone off to their beds, Winky walked the length of the kitchen nervously. Some of the other house elves were getting things ready for breakfast tomorrow, while others went to make sure rooms were tidy. Winky was having second thoughts about asking Harry Potter where Dobby was. She would be a bad elf if she went and purposely sought out Harry Potter. She did not want to be a bad elf again. Whenever she looked back at her behavior when she first got to Hogwarts, she cringed. She understood why the other house-elves were ashamed when people saw her. The only elf who would talk to Winky then was Dobby.

Remembering this, Winky gathered up her courage. Closing her eyes, she Apparated to the Gryffindor common room. She did not want to Apparate directly into somebody's room, in case she woke someone up. The common room was empty, so Winky quickly ran up the stairs that led to the boys' dormitories. She did not know which room was Harry Potter's room, so she decided to check all of them.

The first room she entered, there was a boy, a first year most likely, crawling into bed. Winky quickly, quietly, shut the door. Just as she was about to open the second door, somebody walked out of a door a ways down from her. She let out a yelp of surprise and bowed. The boy, who was in the middle of yawning, choked on his scream. He seemed to reach for his wand before seeing the elf bowing before him.

"I is sorry. I is not meaning to scare you." Winky said, still bowing low to the floor.

"Oh, um, it's okay. I just thought-well, never mind." The boy seemed to want to leave, but instead he asked, "Not to be rude or anything, but who are you?"

"I is Winky, sir." Winky squeaked. "I-I is needing Harry Potter, sir."

"Oh, Harry? He didn't come back for his seventh year, I don't think. Wasn't at the feast anyway. I thought about not coming too, but my gran convinced me to come. Um, is there anything I can help you with?"

Winky was no longer bowing, but her her shoulders were hunched. "I is trying to find Dobby, sir. I is not knowing where he is."

Scratching his arm, the boy said. "I don't know anyone named Dobby. Sorry."

"I should be saying sorry. I is a bad elf, sir. I is asking questions."

The boy looked uncomfortable. "Um,"

Winky seemed to realize that she had made the boy uncomfortable. She hastily asked if there was anything she could help him with. When he said no, Winky backed away while bowing, only Apparating when she could no longer see the boy. Winky was wondering if she would ever find out where Dobby went. If Harry Potter was not at Hogwarts, then was Dobby working for Harry Potter now?

Winky was wondering if Harry Potter would pay Dobby and give him days off as she went to bed. She wondered if Dobby was happier with Harry Potter than he was at Hogwarts. That would be something, seeing as how Dobby was always happy at Hogwarts.

When Winky woke up the next morning, she helped the other elves get everything ready for breakfast. As the dishes disappeared, Winky started cleaning the kitchen. Maybe she would hear about Dobby later. Maybe Dobby was on a vacation, she thought with a shudder.

As the days turned to weeks, and the weeks turned to months, Winky was getting so worried that she kept messing up the simplest of jobs. The other house-elves didn't want her to help cook, because she was adding all the wrong ingredients, they didn't want her to clean, because she was making the beds wrong, and they didn't want her to restock the kitchen, because she kept on getting frog's tongue instead of green beans.

Winky had not yet began drinking herself silly with butterbeer, but she was taking less care in her appearance. She hadn't bathed in five days, and her shirt was ripped down the side. The other house-elves scolded her, told her that no matter how worried she was about Dobby, that it was no reason to be slacking.

Although she tried to get better, because she knew Dobby wouldn't want to see her like this, it seemed like she was only getting worse.

The day before Christmas break, a girl with long blonde hair and radish earrings came into the kitchen. Immediately, she was surrounded by five different house-elves, asking if she wanted anything. Winky did not hear what the girl told them, because she was too busy hiding by the fireplace. She did not want someone to see her when she looked like this! It would shame her and the other house-elves.

As the girl walked closer to the fireplace, Winky tried to make herself smaller. However, the girl caught her eye and smiled. "Hi, I'm Luna. Who might you be?"

Winky bowed as she said. "I is Winky, miss."

The girl laughed. "That is a nice name. I don't suppose you know where a small box is? It is a Christmas present for my father, but it seems to have gone missing."

Winky shook her head and said, "I is not knowing where your box is, miss." Winky was ashamed that, on top of not being a proper house-elf, she couldn't even help the person in front of her.

"I don't think you look to good, Winky. Are you alright?"

Winky thought about telling Luna that she was good, but she hesitated. Maybe Luna knew something about Dobby. Ignoring the other elves' pleading eyes, she said, "I is missing a friend. I is wondering where he is."

Luna smiled. "Do you mind telling me his name, Winky?"

Luna grabbed a cake from a tray a house-elf was holding up. She was looking at Winky, but Winky was looking at the ground. Winky did not want to see the other house-elves, knowing that they were ashamed. "His name is Dobby, miss."

As Winky said this, she heard a gasp and looked up. Luna had dropped her cake. The other house-elves were apologizing.

"Sorry, miss-"

"Hasn't been herself-"

"Get miss a new cake-"

But Luna wasn't paying attention to them. She was still staring at Winky, "Oh, Winky, I am so sorry. Dobby is- Dobby is...dead."

Winky's big brown eyes filled with tears. That could not be. Luna was lying, and Dobby really just found work elsewhere. Dobby could not have died. Winky had not even been mourning him, just thinking he was missing. Winky mumbled something that she could not hear herself and fell to the floor. She did not care what the other house-elves were thinking, nor did she care if she was being a bad elf. Dobby was her only friend, and she could not believe he was dead.

Before she knew it, she was gasping for breath and her nose was running. She had never felt a pain like this before. Not even when her first master had given her clothes. She put her face in her hands and continued to cry, not stopping until her eyes ran dry.

 **I thought that Dobby and Winky were really cute and that they might even make a good couple when a realized that Dobby was dead and I almost cried at school. On that happy note, I hope you enjoyed:)**


End file.
